You may have seen the photo online after the Supreme Court ruling that upheld the Affordable Care Act: a young woman leaping with excitement in the midst of the crowd that had gathered to await news of the ruling. No, she was quoted as telling a reporter-photographer who took her picture, she hadn't worked to pass the bill -- she was hopping with happiness, she told him, because "I just have lupus."

Most of the time, I imagine that having a serious autoimmune disease doesn't make her jump with joy.

But somehow I knew just what she meant by that happy dance, and I'll bet a lot of other Americans did, too. For many of us with so-called "pre-existing conditions" -- i.e., serious medical problems or a history of them -- the part of the health care reform law that stands out, regardless of our views on the rest of the legislation, is the part that prohibits health insurers from denying us coverage because of our history of medical problems.

Yes, inside I leapt, too, when I heard about the court's decision -- not because I've been deeply involved in the political circus that health care reform has become, but because "I just am a cancer survivor."

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It was three years ago when I earned my pre-existing condition. In the spring of 2009, I discovered a lump in my breast, had surgery to remove the malignant tumor and struggled through months of chemotherapy. With probably more than a little luck, and with the help of good doctors and nurses and my family and friends, I came out on the other side with a renewed appreciation for all kinds of things. Eyelashes and eyebrows certainly are on that list, because I really disliked being without them, thanks to the chemo drugs.

But more important, I saw how crucial it is to be able to work with committed, coordinated health care providers when one is confronting a serious illness. From radiologists to my oncologist, there was support and expertise all around me, and that made the often-scary process much easier to handle. (For the record, my health insurance is with Kaiser Permanente. I'm a fan, as I'm sure I would be of other health care providers where patient care is similarly well-coordinated.)

I can barely contemplate what it must be like to receive a diagnosis of cancer or another serious illness knowing that one lacks health insurance coverage. Even with good insurance, I was frightened and confused sometimes. But I and millions of other Americans with pre-existing conditions until recently have been faced with the reality that if we need to seek health insurance independently -- because of a loss of employer-provided coverage, for instance -- we could easily be turned down because of our health histories. You've read heartbreaking stories about ill people who don't have coverage, and so have I.

The American Cancer Society estimates that there were 13.7 million American cancer survivors at the beginning of this year, nearly 1.6 million of them in California; the group called the Affordable Care Act "a victory for people with cancer and their families nationwide." I mention the ubiquity of this one disease, because I think if legislators hoping to repeal the Affordable Care Act don't already know people who have had cancer or other pre-existing conditions, they probably will soon enough.

And chances are that those people will also feel relieved that U.S. law now prevents insurers from denying them coverage because of their histories. Which makes me think -- and hope -- that Americans won't let that particular part of the Affordable Care Act be erased by legislators who appear bent on repealing "Obamacare" at all costs.

Hilary Matfess, the excited young woman with lupus in the photo by Slate magazine's David Weigel (www.slate.com), would probably agree with me. A Johns Hopkins University student, she wrote this in a blog post on the Institute for Policy Studies, where she is an intern: "I'm still celebrating the Supreme Court's ruling as a promising sign that Americans are on the brink of adopting a health care system based on a sense of community, not luck."

As a member of the pre-existing-condition community, I hope she's right.